You can count down the hours now until the NBA free agency signing period opens, so an early Happy Canada Day to all! Yes, free agency and Canadian Independence Day always intersect each year, and perhaps the Toronto Raptors will be a more interesting to team to watch this free agency season than the Chicago Bulls.
No offense to combo guard E’Twaun Moore, as you know how much we love the former Purdue Boilermakers star over here at The Sports Bank, but his story might be the most interesting Bulls narrative this silly season. Seriously, you should expect a very quiet FA summer in Chicago this year.
Re-signing E’twaun Moore appears to be high on the Bulls offseason to-do list, as General Manager Gar Forman gave unsolicited praise of him on Monday. “We think very highly of him,” Forman said.
That obviously indicates that Moore is a part of the Bulls plans, and most likely that Aaron Brooks is not. It is widely expected that Brooks will not return, and it’s highly unlikely the Bulls keep both or let both go. The Bulls somehow managed to move Derrick Rose’s massive $21.3 million expiring deal, but really didn’t get all that much quality in return. That’s to be somewhat expected, given
a.) Rose’s awful injury history and
b.) the fact that every other NBA team that was interested knew the Bulls were dying to move him and could therefore receive pennies on the dollar.
In retrospect, it seems like Derrick Rose ended his Chicago career on 2015 Media Day when he inexplicably made his unsolicited boneheaded comments about the increasing salary cap and his upcoming free agency. Unfortunately, the D. Rose deal had no significant impact on Chicago’s salary cap position for this summer as several contracts from the Knicks were returned to the Bulls.
Take a look at Chicago Bulls Confidential on the Chicago Now network, they have all the salary situation charts and graphs that you need. CBC writes that “With Noah, Gasol and Brooks likely gone, the Bulls could have up to $23.4 million in cap space.”
Unfortunately, the Bulls still don’t have the cap room to make any real noise with a major buy this summer. And yes, you can safely assume that Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah are both as good as gone in July. This free agency summer will be more about players leaving the Chicago Bulls, not coming.
However, that still doesn’t leave Chicago with enough room to make a major addition because, as Chicago Now points out:
“Due to the salary cap rising from $70 million in 2015-16 to $94 million in 2016-17, the contract numbers players will receive will be unprecedented, as will the fiery opinions once the signing of massive offer sheets begins. It’s going to be utter chaos, and I can’t wait.”
Yes, get ready to say to yourself “wow that’s a ridiculous price for that guy” over and over again, as every free agent is going to get way overpaid. In other words, the Bulls can’t afford a top notch point guard this summer, and thus haven’t been linked to any of the best 1s who will be out there on the open market. The Bulls really haven’t been linked to signing any of the top free agents available this summer at any position, but we bring up point guard because
1.) it’s their most obvious position of need and
2.) it’s relevant to E’twaun Moore, who will no doubt see major minutes at the position this year.
Here is more on the Bulls PG needs as well as a list of seven teams they will competing against for one in the marketplace.
Moore, an East Chicago, IN native, seems to have finally found his NBA home in the place that he came from. Moore was a regular contributor and occasional starter last season. He should see more playing time this year because he does something that so few players on the Bulls roster did last year- defend.
The Bulls got Jerian Grant and Jose Calderon back in the Rose trade, and both will be in the rotation at the one, along with Moore and the man sitting next to Forman when he brought up E’Twaun Moore and that’s Denzel Valentine. The AP national college basketball player of the year has plenty of experience running the point at Michigan State, and as Forman pointed out during the Zel introductory presser.
At the same press conference, Forman also made comments indicating that the Bulls are more focused on the 2017 and possibly 2018 free agency summers, when the class is expected to be more talent rich.
“We’ve got to weigh everything that comes in front of us,” Forman said.
“What we got to keep in mind is not only short term but long term and trying to put together the best plan for our team moving forward. So we’ve got to weigh those things as it begins. Obviously, we’ve got an eye this year and we’ve also got an eye on two, three years from now and even four, five years out as far as managing our cap and putting the best team together that we can.”
“We’re still in the process of putting our plan together,” Forman said. “I think both in the front court and the backcourt, we’ll look at some options and see what’s out there.
“I don’t know that anybody knows really what to expect with the spike in the cap. I think it’s going to be a pretty fluid period. With that said, we like the group we’ve put together. I think we’re headed in the direction I talked about the other, as far as beginning to get younger and more athletic and retool this roster to a certain extent.”
Yes, it’s a “retooling” not a “rebuilding” project, as Forman often reiterates, but there’s still no answer here for the Bulls at point guard. Sure, Valentine is a good fit, and bringing back Moore, an unrestricted free agent, would certainly a free agency “own goal” of sorts, but neither is a true point guard. The Derrick Rose deal absolutely had to be done, as he couldn’t co-exist properly with Jimmy Butler, but unfortunately, both Grant and Calderon are a big step down.
Thus, it doesn’t appear that the Bulls will have a top tier floor general running the point in 2016-17, and this off-season will be more about selling than it is buying, and more importantly, positioning the team to be in a great buying position come summer of 2017.
Remember, Chicago still has 13 players currently under contract right now.
You need to be like Green Day, and take the Longview here, Chicago Bulls fans; re-signing E’Twaun Moore might be the most exciting development that you’ll see between now and opening tip-off.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram
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